Hitra is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality covers the island of Hitra and hundreds smaller islands and skerries, it is part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fillan. Other villages include Andersskogan, Forsnes, Knarrlagsund, Kvenvær, Melandsjøen, Nordbotn and Ulvan; the 680-square-kilometre municipality is the 165th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Hitra is the 213th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,648; the municipality's population density is 7.2 inhabitants per square kilometre and its population has increased by 12.5% over the last decade. Hitra is famous in dense population of Red Deer. Hitra is a member of the International Island Games Association; the prestegjeld of Hitra was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1877, the northern island district of Frøya was separated from Hitra to form a municipality of its own. On 1 January 1886, the southern and eastern parts of Hitra were separated into a new municipality of Fillan.

This left Hitra with 2,241 residents. On 1 January 1913, the western part of Hitra was separated to form the new municipality of Kvenvær; this left Hitra with 1,439 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Hitra, Kvenvær, Sandstad were merged to form a new, larger Hitra municipality. Prior to the merger, Hitra had 1,344 residents. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county. On 1 January 2020, the island of Hemnskjela and the northwestern corner of the mainland municipality of Snillfjord was merged into Hitra; the Old Norse form of the name was Hitr. The name is derived from a word with the meaning "split" or "cleft"; until 1918, the name of the island and municipality was spelled Hitteren. The coat of arms was granted on 7 August 1987; the arms show the head of a Red Deer in silver on a blue background. It symbolizes one of Northern Europe's largest populations of red deer, located in the municipality.

The Church of Norway has two parishes within the municipality of Hitra. It is part of the Orkdal prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros. All municipalities in Norway, including Hitra, are responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services and other social services, economic development, municipal roads; the municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Frostating Court of Appeal; the municipal council of Hitra is made up of 23 representatives. The party breakdown of the council is as follows: Hitra is the seventh largest island of mainland Norway, it is bordered by the municipality of Frøya to the north and the mainland municipalities of Hemne and Snillfjord to the south. It lies between the Frøyfjorden; the 345-metre tall Mørkdalstuva is the highest point on the island. Other than the large island of Hitra, there are many other islands in the municipality, notably Fjellværsøya, Ulvøya, Dolmøya, Helgbustadøya, Bispøyan.

The Columbia spotted frog is a North American species of frog. It is green to brown in color with spots on the dorsal surface; the belly and upper lip are white in color. Individuals can be distinguished from other Rana species by their shorter back legs, narrow snout, upturned eyes. Since they spend most of their time in the water, they have more webbing in their hind feet than similar species. Although not threatened, this animal has been studied as a model species for the effects of habitat fragmentation; the Columbia spotted frog is a medium-sized frog reaching lengths of up to 3.5 in. Its color ranges from a dark, olive green to light brown with irregularly shaped black spots on its back and legs, its skin texture, like the rest of the genus, varies from a rough to a smooth texture, with small folds of skin along the back. This frog exhibits a unique feature regarding its color. A light-colored strip runs along the upper lip, the ventral sides of the frog are colored either pink or yellow, but only in the adult form.

This frog is well known by a few of its physical characteristics, as well. It has a narrow out and upturned eyes; the spotted frog is known as a aquatic amphibian. When comparing this frog to others of the same size, such as the northern leopard frog, it tends to have shorter hind legs; the tadpoles are brownish-green in color. Gold spots are intermittent throughout this coloring; the tadpoles have upturned, inset eyes. They reach around 3.1 inches in length before maturing to adults. The Columbia spotted frog is widespread throughout western North America, from Alaska and parts of British Columbia to Washington and parts of Wyoming and Utah; the Columbia spotted frog, like most other frogs, is aquatic. Their habitats are found near permanent bodies of water, which can include lakes, slow-moving streams, marshes; these frogs were found to need specific habitat characteristics within these broader habitat characteristics. Adult spotted frogs inhabit seasonally flooded sites, where the water source is constant, but at certain times of the year, increases exponentially in both the amount and level of water available.

These frogs are a constant victim to predation, so they need to be in an area with an abundant source of low-growing vegetation. A large part of this vegetation is submerged, including many forms of algae and other aquatic plants; the spotted frog does not inhabit areas with large amounts of grasses and sagebrush growing. These plants are not as aquatic as the algae, which makes them a poor hiding place for the spotted frog; the Columbia spotted frog ventures outside of these areas, but for breeding, they have been known to travel outside of these areas. The Columbia spotted frog reproduces to other amphibians, but with a few unique details added, they need to reproduce in areas. Two of the favorite types of vegetation for reproduction are reed canary cattails; the spotted frog reproduces in the same areas where it lives- ponds, slow-moving streams, lakes. The males present to the females a chorus to try to attract a female for mating; this song ranges from a series of clicks to glottal sounds. This frog has an unusual characteristic of its reproduction.

The male frog arrives at the breeding grounds before the female and establishes the oviposition site before the females become reproductively active. Once the oviposition site is created, the female begins to lay her eggs in shallow water, the male fertilizes the eggs; the egg masses large in size, range up to 1300 eggs. The egg masses, once laid, become the size of a softball; these eggs are not attached to any type of vegetation, but are left free-floating in a permanent water source. Soon after, the eggs hatch into tadpoles; the Columbia spotted frog's breeding schedule depends on geographical location and elevation. In British Columbia, the frog will breed during February at sea level. In areas around Utah, the frog will breed around mid-March at an elevation of about 1,395 m. At areas of Wyoming, the frog will reproduce from May through June at elevations around 2,377 m; the female will breed yearly at lower elevations and about every two to three years at higher elevations. This frog is opportunistic at best.